Kunitz is part of the paper championship team. He's nuts in the regular season, then just totally becomes invisible in the playoffs, like an underperforming 3rd liner. I'm still shaking my head that Blsyma kept putting him out there on the top PP unit.

I'd much rather sign Dupuis and trade Kunitz. The only thing in Kunitz favor is that he's a natural LW. A much bigger need than RW.

It's funny how everyone says "oh its Rossi" stirring the pot, when it comes to nonsense like "trading Neal." But when Rossi says he believes Letang will want a bazillion dollars, everyone pulls out the torches and dons their masks, ready to drive Letang out of town.

I find this funny because I posted yesterday that I wouldnt be surprised if Neal got dealt and was blasted.

It doesnt mean I or anyone advocates getting rid of the guy especially at his price. Bu we have enough cap space to barely field a team and one that clearly needs improved. Neal is the only "real" chip we have. Letang will probably take someone signing him long term for a deal to be made that is good enough. No matter what the over zealous trade folks on here think Kunitz and Orpik probably wont get much in return that will help us - that is a total dump for youth meaning we are throwing in the towel next year.

Not to mention Neal and his right wing circle shot was rendered completely ineffective by the goaltender stepping out and cutting off the angle. Might be making the Pens nervous, who knows.

Pens need LW and Kunitz is very affordable. He's also up their in years to where the return likely would be a lot less than his value as a LW in Pittsburgh. He's also shown that he can play with either Sid or Crosby at center, something that not all wingers that have been through Pittsburgh a while ago or even now can do.

Neal puts nice numbers up as long as he plays with Malkin and has a nice contract. If Dupuis is re-upped(not all that confident this actually happens) and assuming Bennett is ready for full-time duties and/or Iggy gets re-upped, Neal could get moved.

RS is going to probably be very busy right away. Knowing whether Dupuis can be re-signed and deciding whether to try and ink Iggy have a lot to do with anything Neal-related.

I have some doubt about whether Neal is at the top of "what are our plans with this guy?" when you have a slew of UFA's and looming raises next year for Letang(or moving him) and Malkin. Oh yeah, MAF and DB too. Would not like to be GM right now at all.

Last edited by brwi on Mon Jun 10, 2013 6:19 pm, edited 1 time in total.

The premise of the article is bogus. The suggestion is that they would trade Kunitz or Neal to free up cap space to sign Malkin and Letang. I can't see Neal being moved, as his cap hit will prove to be a major bargain moving forward. Look at the deals signed recently. Carolina gives Semin $7M a year, Gonchar, coming off a horrible post season performance against the Pens, signs for $5M over two seasons. Cory Perry and Ryan Getzlaf both have contracts over $8M per season. As was said during the lockout, the new system will not have much effect on the stars, and will only force the role players to take less. The stars will always get theirs. They can't circumvent the cap with front loaded deals anymore, so the cap hits are increasing. It's why Malkin will have a higher cap hit then Sid. That could be a tricky contract. Last time, they essentially copied the contract. However, if you copy the first eight years of Crosby's contract, I think the cap hit would be $10.8M. That is what they claim will be a starting point in discussions. I'm hopeful that Geno will settle for $9.6M. It's less then Sid, but leaves a little more space for othe signings, which Malkin said he is willing to do. I can see him settling around $9.6M, simply because it would be the league's highest average cap hit. Higher then Ovechkin, which I think would mean something to Geno.

As far as Letang goes, he will easily command $7M to $8M per season. It's the league's new math. Look at what Drew Doughty got, then compare his value to that of Letang. You certainly can see where Letang's justification for asking for that kind of money comes from.

I got a little off the point, but the article is rendered completely bogus when they enter Kunitz into the equation, suggesting they need to lower the cap to sign Malkin and Letang. That's nonsense. No matter what Malkin and Letang receive, the cap hit doesn't take effect until the season after next. Next season, Malkin will make $8.7M, and Letang $3.5M. So trading Kunitz and/or Neal will not have any effect on the new cap hits for Malkin and Letang. Not next season. Since Kunitz will be in the last year of his contract, there is no reason to trade him to clear up cap space for 2014-15. He'll already be off the books! So the premise of the article is completely bogus.

Ok, I don't think Letang played particularly well at all in the playoffs, but he's most likely not "the problem"--it's just that his value to other teams gives us the ability to address some of these problems fairly easy with a single trade.

As for Kunitz and Neal: If Kunitz has a significant value to a team, I'd hate to see him go, but this was likely his best year of his career. Guys like Dupuis and Kunitz are getting up there and as guys who rely on their wheels to play a feisty game, we've seen how quickly speed can leave a player. To the same effect, Neal is a young, proven scoring forward. Why trade him?

It's all of the same anyway, a post season failure. Whoever they trade is fine. It won't matter again until next April. Just like with Lemieux and Jagr. The Stanley Cup is so damned hard to win it's about how you are playing in April and beyond.

I will add that trading Kunitz will be tough. He makes too much IMO to just go on another team.

The league now watching the fore checking like a hawk makes playing against Kunitz easier. Pound for pound he was the hardest hitter in the NHL. Since they have been on the don't hit from behind attitude he is no where near as physical as he once was. That I'm afraid really hurts Kunitz value. He has no hands but he never had those regardless.

James Neal. I wouldn't mind seeing him go. IMO he is one of the slower Penguins. Where was that lethal shot in the Bruins series? He had how many consecutive chances right off the draw? Several. He doesn't really hit. he is too slow to have an impact in any other way other than that shot. But the shot wasn't there in the last series sooooo

longtimefan wrote: Gonchar, coming off a horrible post season performance against the Pens, signs for $5M over two seasons. .

just me being picky but it's $10 million over 2 seasons. no idea if it's $5 million per or structured some other way but $5 mil over 2 seasons would be a bargain. $10 mil is an overpayment.http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=425114

Beveridge wrote:Mistakes are one thing, I make a ton of them every day and in most of my posts I'm sure.

Knowing how to spell the names of the players you supposedly root for is a pet peeve of mine. And Neal vs Neil is one of the worst. It's 4 letters.

It's called getting up their in age,being on the wrong side of 50, and I think everyone knows I was talking about James Neal and not a non-existent James Neil. The posts calling Fleury "Fluery" must drive you nuts, but I think everyone on the internetz knows who is being referred to. I've maybe missed 3 games since Neal became a Penguin. I watch a lot of Canes' games and still have at least 3 times referred to HC Kirk Muller as HC Kirk McLean. No, I don't have a drinking or drug problem either. It's a discussion board and I just let it fly without spending a half-hour re-checking everything I am about to post.